Flush tank valve



Nov. 9, 1954 s. M. KASS 2,693,600

FLUSH TANK VALVE Filed Dec. 28 1951 INVENj'pR Samuel M. 6186- J3 J32 BY ATTORNEY 5'.

United States PatentO FLUSH TANK VALVE Samuel M. Kass, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application December 28, 1951, Serial No. 263,743 1 Claim. (Cl. 4-s6 The present invention relates to a flush tank outlet valve and particularly to the manner of centering and guiding the valve.

A purpose of the invention is to eliminate the usual guide rod and guide of a flush tank outlet valve, and to guide the valve and keep it centered as it seats by a guiding extension through the outlet valve seat and into the drain fitting.

A further purpose is to employ the hydraulic effect of the water leaving through the drain fitting to keep the valve centered as it seats.

A further purpose is to extend a chain from the outlet valve through the drain fitting and use the efiect of the water on the chain to keep the valve centered.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claim.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate a few only of the numerous embodiments in which my invention may appear, selecting the forms shown from the ,standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

Figure 1 is a front elevation partly in vertical sections of a flush tank showing the outlet valve of the invention.

The inlet valve is also shown in phantom.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary axial section of the outlet valve of the invention.

Figure 3 is an axial section of a variant outlet valve, showing the preferred embodiment.

Figure 3a is a fragmentary side elevation of a variant form of chain attachment.

Figure 4 is a still further variation shown in elevation.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary axial section of a still further variation.

Figure 6 is an axial section of a variant form of depending centering element.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

A large part of the difiiculty encountered in leakage of flush tanks is due to improper guiding and centering of the outlet valve, so that it does not properly seat or does not seat at all. Difiiculties caused by corrosion and mechanical problems on the guide and the guiding stem are very common sources of trouble.

This situation is aggravated by the fact that the operating lever and the wire extension therefrom often does not directly raise the outlet valve, but pulls at an angle, causing distortion and bending of the stem and guide.

In accordance with the present invention, the outlet valve is freed entirely from guiding above, and is thus deliberately allowed to move around in response to the pull of the operating lever. Reliance is placed on the hydraulic efiect of the discharging water acting on a' depending guide in the outlet fitting to keep the outlet valve centered. It has been found that this is'a distinct improvement over prior art forms, as it tends to make the outlet valve return to accurately centered position regardless of the question of whether the operating lever is positioned directly above the outlet valve center. Thus the device of the invention will meet the conditions in a wide variety of flush tanks without likelihood of bending or distortion under the conditions of service.

As shown in Figure 1, an outlet flush tank 20 is provided with an inlet connection 21 having an inlet valve 22 controlled by a float lever 23 having a float 24. These features are not in the plane of the section and are shown in phantom simply for placement purposes, as they form no part of the present invention.

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An operating handle 25 controls a pivot 26 on which is mounted a flushing lever 27 having openings 28 for engagement with the outlet valve.

lit the bottom of the flush tank, an outlet fitting 30 has a conical valve seat 31 upwardly directed on the inside of the tank. The fitting is secured to the tank by the engagement between flange 32 on the fitting and lock nut 33 threaded on the outside of the fitting.

While it forms no part of the present invention, the seat 31 suitably has a seat liner 34 of rubber or the like of annular conical form mounted on the inside of the seat, as well known in the art. This rubber seat liner is particularly significant where a seal is to be made to glass, as later explained. I

A flush tank outlet valve 35,suitably of rubber as well known, has an inverted conical outer valve surface 36 which engages against the seat liner 34 when the valve is closed. An insert 37 in the upper center of the valve makes threaded connections with an eye 38 which engages a chain 40 extending above the outlet valve and connected by hook 41 to one of the holes 28 in the operating lever. It is not important in the present invention to employ a hole 28 immediately above the center of the outlet valve, as the valve will in any case center. It is important, however, to allow enough slack in the chain 40 when the valve is seated so that the valve is free from restraint and can respond to the hydraulic effect of the discharging water as it seats.

At the bottom of the valve a tubular centering extension 42 extends down beneath the valve and carries at its lower end chain 43 which aids in centering and in some cases performs the entire centering function.

The depending tube 42 is conveniently secured to the rubber valve by washer 44 inside the valve which locks against a head 45 secured as by cement to the upper end of the tube by a screw 46 passing through the head 45 and threaded into the washer 44.

The chain 43 is conveniently secured to the bottom of the tube 42 as by hook 47 which has a spiral portion 48 which is forced into the tube and springs out into engagement into the inside of the tube.

Both the valve and the tube are hollow. It is desirable to allow some water to enter the tube through the sides, and this is suitably accomplished by vent openings 50.

The tube 42 may be somewhat modified as shown at 42, Where vent openings 50' extend all along the tube and the bottom chain 43 is held in place by a bottom head 51, which is secured as by cement to the bottom of the tube.

In operation of the device of Figures 1 and 2 (or as modified in Figure 6), when the flushing lever 27 is raised, the chain 40 raises the outlet valve, but the maximum height to which the valve is raised is not great enough to bring the tube 42 and chain 43 entirely out of the outlet fitting. As water leaves through the outlet fitting it tends to urge .the outlet valve to center position, and as the water in the tank lowers and the outlet valve ceases to have any tendency to float which it exhibits when completely surrounded by water, the outlet valve moves down toward seating position. As it does so, water continues to float out of the outlet fitting, and the hydraulic action against the sides of the tube 42 and the chain 43 urges the outlet valve into the center, and it seats centrally guided by the tube 42 and the chain 43.

For many purposes it is preferable to center the outlet valve by a chain alone, as shown'in Figure 3. In this form, the washer 44' inside the outlet valve suitably has a metallic insert 52 which makes threaded engagement with eye 53 connecting to chain 43 and clamping outside Washer 54 against the bottom of the outlet valve.

In operation in this form, the chain is long enough to remain in the outlet fitting when the valve is raised, and as the valve lowers, the sweep of the water against the chain pulls the valve into central seating position.

In Figure 3a a variant form of eye 53' is illustrated. In this showing the eye formation is heart shaped with a chain receiving and centering portion 53 The same mode of operation occurs as in the showing of Figure 3 but in Figure 3a the chain seating is accentuated, by sloping the sides 53 about 45 the chain can readily slide down the side 53 of the eye into seating position in the eye. This occurs when the water flows to close the valve.

" electric light bulb as an outlet valve, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. In the embodiment of Figure 4, spring wire arms 55 engage the bulb and have a hook end 56 which connects to chain 40. The socket end of the electric incandescent bulbis downwardly directed, and tube 42 is forced over the socket, making aforced fit therewith. Otherwise the device is like the form of Figures 1 and 2 and the electric light bulb acting as an outlet valve seats, engaging on the lowered surface 36" so that the clamp arms 55 do not touch the valve seat or seat liner.

In the forum of Figure 5,-the bulb is-mounted in the same way as in Figure 4, but the centering chain 43 is connected to the bulbby adummy socket 57, internally threaded at 58 to engage the plug 60 onthe bulb. The

, socket has an eye 53' threaded the lower end to engage the chain. v V.

In all of these forms, it will be understood that the depending tube or' the' chain or the tubeand chain remains in the outlet fitting when the outlet valve is raised and centers the outlet valve as is restored. One of the important features is that the outlet valve is laterally unrestrained: when it is: unseated- In view of my invention anddisclosure variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art,

4v to obtain all or part of the benefits of my invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of my claim.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a flush tank outlet valve, a chain, spring arms at one end of the chain, a glass bulb engaged between the spring arms, and having a metal plug at one end, a socket engaged around the metal plug and a further chain congecflged to the end of the socket remote from the glass References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

